As U.S. President Donald Trump greeted Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday, he told reporters it was an honor to welcome the Ukrainian leader for an “exciting moment” — signing a landmark deal securing access to critical minerals in Ukraine meant to pave the way for a peace agreement with Russia.
Less than two hours later, Zelenskyy was rushing out of the West Wing into an idling SUV, his relationship with Ukraine’s most critical ally in tatters.
Prospects for a signing ceremony — much less a landmark accord with Russia resolving three years of conflict — had vaporized. And as Trump posted social media missives blasting Zelenskyy as an ingrate who had insulted the United States, stunned officials in Washington and across the world wondered if repairing the rift was even possible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Donald Trump ended in disaster on Friday, after the two leaders clashed in an extraordinary exchange before the world’s media at the White House over the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy had seen the meeting in the Oval Office as an opportunity to convince the United States not to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Instead, U.S. President Trump and Vice President JD Vance laid into Zelenskyy, saying he showed disrespect, driving relations with Kyiv’s most important wartime ally to a new low. The Ukrainian leader was told to leave, a U.S. official said.
